Nightmares
by Spacefille
Summary: Set after Endless Waltz, Sally and Wufei are working together as Preventers... Gee... that's really descriptive... um, may have romance in it later on, but for now it's been a long day at work and Sally deals with a headache from hell. How's that?
1. Default Chapter

NightmaresBy Marie

Nightmares  
By Marie

~~~  
Author's Notes - (07/19/01) YAY! I got my VERY first Sally & Wufei short story published in a zine!! YAYYAY!! *Marie does dance of joy* 

Oh... you want notes about THIS story. *lol* Well, the title is a working title and is subject to change. This is also a Sally and Wufei fic I started writing before my fic "Twilight"... (but after my first one that got published ^_~) and the difference is is I meant this one to have a little tiny bit of romance in it. However I don't know if it will get there or not. ^_~ 

Oh, and I tried to do my homework with this fic! (i.e. actually watch ALL of the series first. *grins*) However this was written without knowledge of the events portrayed in the Preventer 5 short in the Episode Zero official manga nor anything that comes after. ^_^ I wrote it to take place after the events in _Endless Waltz_. Any OOCness, please feel free to correct me on it! Thanks again!!   
~Marie  
~~~ 

Part 1  
Sometime during AC 198...

The terrorist activity had been rather active during the last few months; but on this particular day the number of incidents had reached an all time high. The Preventer named Sally Po rubbed her forehead wearily as yet another printed message came through the machine, picking it up and glancing over the information much more slowly than she usually did. She was exhausted, and that caused the words that reported the details of the latest attack to fade into gibberish if she tried to read it too fast.

She put the paper down with a sigh, rubbing her temples in a slow circular motion. It was way past the time that both her and her work partner Chang Wufei should have been heading home for the night... Wufei especially. She knew for a fact that her young partner was tired and agitated and more than a bit irritated. And an irritated Wufei was very much like a ticking time bomb, ready to go off at any second... 

"Why don't you watch what you're doing!!" 

Like that. Sally winced and shut her eyes as she heard the strong voice of her work partner carry clear across the room to her. As far as she could tell from the stuttered apologies she could hear he was chewing out the offices' relatively new secretary, and *she* sounded like she was absolutely terrified, which only seemed to irritate him more. His voice rose in volume, causing Sally to wince yet again. 

She glanced up from her desk, watching as a fast motion from Wufei's hand caught the papers and computer pads in her arms, causing them to go flying. The young girl went after them, cheeks flushing, still sprewing out apologies, which only caused her younger partner to cock his jaw upwards arrogantly. She knew another string of insults were about to issue forth from his mouth when she stood abruptly. It was definitely time to stop him before the whole situation got more than out of hand. 

"Wufei," She called out casually, walking across the room towards him. He stiffened at her approach, but snapped his mouth shut, saving the flustered secretary from any more abuse. Sally placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's been a long day and it's late. Why don't you head home for the night?" 

Wufei gritted his teeth, shrugging off her hand. "I'm fine."

Sally was silent for a moment as the secretary finished gathering up her arm full and standing unsteadily. Sally nodded at her. "You may go home now Reyes. We'll see you tomorrow."

Absolute relief shone in the girl's eyes as she fled from the room. 

Sally waited until she was gone before she continued. "It wasn't a suggestion." She returned. The tone of her voice indicated that there was no room for protest or argument. 

Wufei turned, and flashing dark eyes met hers for an instant before Wufei looked away. His shoulder slumped forwards slightly, defeatedly. 

"I'll go." He muttered. Sally watched silently as the boy trekked over to his workspace, closing his computer forcefully, shoving a stack of papers away with quick efficiency. He didn't look at her at all as he walked by her again, grabbing his Preventer's jacket before heading out the door. 

Sally sighed.  
~~~

Popping back the Tylenol, Sally grimaced, sighing as she inspected the shower curtain with bland disinterest. She was so tired that even the small task which was usually a pleasure of taking a shower seemed like a struggle. She just really wanted to curl up *anywhere* and sleep. Ah well. Muttering slightly she slumped lazily against the wall, reaching down to begin unbuttoning her top. 

A faint cry from another room caught her ears, stopping her. She paused, looking up. 

Wufei. 

Her hands dropped, her head lolling forward slightly. Not again...

Wufei had nightmares every once and a while, as she was sure most of the ex - Gundam pilots did. However Wufei's nightmares were becoming more consistent lately, and she was becoming a little bit worried. Though perhaps it had only been because of the increased stress at work... and the constant rebel activity presently... 

Pushing off from the bathroom counter she tread lightly down the hall towards his room. 

"Wufei?" she questioned softly, knocking quietly at his closed door. When no sound came except for the occasional groan or rustle of an 18 year old boy who was presently in the throes of a nightmare, she cautiously opened the door and slipped inside his room. 

He was laying how he usually did, out on his back, but in his struggles the sheets which usually resided tucked neatly under his arms has slipped to around his mid-waist, his shirt bunched at points about his upper body. As she watched he jerked his head to the side again, face bathed in a light sheen of sweat, bit of his loose hair sticking to his forehead and cheek. 

Sally sighed. Ignoring the fact that her own head was pounding and all her body seemed to want to do was shut down, she stepped forward carefully. "Wufei," she whispered soothingly, approaching the bed. "Hey... It's okay, all right? There's nothing here, Wufei, nothing to worry about..." She didn't wake him when she spoke but for some reason just the sound of her voice seemed to calm him. It was a familiar routine... one that Wufei didn't know about, nor did she intend to let him know about in extensive detail. The once or twice he *had* waken up, she had quickly explained away her nocturnal visit as concern and beat a hasty retreat. 

Reaching down, she gently pulled the sheets back up to around his chest, continuing to speak softly as she did so. Slowly Wufei's face cleared, the furrow quickly disappearing from between his worried brows. She smiled slightly, patting the sheets into place...

And then he gasped. Startled, Sally jerked her head up to look at his face, causing a small land mine to erupt between her temples at the same time. She winced slightly, and stared. Wufei was still fast asleep but he was... crying? *That* wasn't something that Sally was used to. A little bit surprised, she reached out and carefully touched a damp cheek. A choked sob met her efforts. And another. And another. 

"Ah, Wufei..." _This is going to take longer than I thought..._ Giving up, Sally untucked the sheets again and lifted them, slipping carefully into the bed next to him. _If he wakes up I'll just tell him that it's my house I can do what I want... or somethin'... _she rationalized wearily. In the meantime she drew the sweat soaked form to her. He didn't resist... and actually began to calm once again, so she took that at a good sign. "Hey, it's okay..." she continued, yawning, stroking his cheek gently as a few last tremors coursed through his slender frame. "Everything's gonna be..." she yawned again, making the infernal mistake of closing her eyes.

~~~


	2. Part 2

Untitled Normal Page

~~~  
Nightmares  
Part 2  
(Okay, I had fun with this part... ^_^) 

  
There was... someone in his bed. Wufei sat up with a start, his heart pounding. And then he realized who it was. 

It was *her*, curled up with her front to him, tangled braids laying around where his head had formally been. He blinked, trying desperately to put two and two together, and failing miserably. She was fully clothed, he noted, much to his utter relief, as he was as well, but WHY...? 

"Woman..." Wufei whispered, poking cautiously at her shoulder. When all he got in response was a slight moan and a contented sigh, he tried again, poking her a little bit harder and speaking a little bit louder. "Woman!" he pronounced, pushing against her shoulder roughly. This time he did manage to get the desired response... Sally groaned aloud and rolled over on her back. She yawned, then blinked blearily up at him. And smiled. Wufei just about gritted his teeth. 

"Good morning." Sally Po announced sweetly. _Opps._ She added to herself mentally. 

Wufei did grit his teeth. "Woman, you're in my bed." He hissed at her.

For a moment Sally feigned like this was a surprise to her as well. She glanced down herself, then back up at him, the smile never faltering. "Why so I am." 

Wufei's voice was beginning to take on a distinctively whiny characteristic, which was something it did around Sally, and *only* Sally. It was something that she was vaguely proud of. "Woman..." he began, glowering down at her, folding his arms across his chest. 

"Shh." Sally's hand came up, clamping playfully across his mouth even as she sat up. "I told you I have a name." 

_'Yes. When I wake up and you're in *my* bed, it's "woman", no matter now much the word irritates you. You, woman, who shouldn't *be* in my bed. It isn't proper...' _Wufei glared, but wisely bit his tongue. 

"You were having those dreams again last night," Sally continued, looking serious now as she stretched, then cautiously regarded her hands. She looked up at him, all playfulness gone from her face. "I'm sorry, Wufei. I didn't mean to fall asleep." She glanced back down, ruefully fingering the hem of her Preventers uniform. "I didn't even change yet." She noted, sounding slightly surprised at herself. "I guess I was just overly tired. Yesterday was a long day after all." She blinked, then swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I'm going to get changed, and then I'll get the kettle on, 'kay?" She smirked back at him once more before getting to her feet and shuffling sleepily from the room. 

Frowning, Wufei watched her go. 

~~~ 

It was nearly a half an hour and several moments with the super hold hair gel later that Wufei finally made it to the breakfast table. Frowning still, he seated himself and glowered at Sally as she poured him a cup of coffee. He really wished she would take that smile off of her face. It was grating on his nerves. 

He was grumpy, he realized a moment later. And being an ass to boot.

Making another face, he took a sip of his coffee, and forced himself to calm. It wasn't often that he allowed his feathers to be ruffled, and whenever they were, recently especially, he seemed to been taking it out on any hapless victim that happened to be wandering by at the time, and on Sally. He supposed the latter was because he worked with the woman, and lived with her, and now apparently shared a bed with her... 

He frowned again, but this time it was a thinking sort of frown. That wasn't what was bothering him, he realized. It hadn't been the first time that he had woken up feeling uneasy, but this morning the feeling was very acute... night terrors from the early hours were still fleeting in his mind. _I must have been fairly bad last night... to have acquired a Sally in my bed, _he reflected ruefully. 

Not only that, but the feeling of dread in the very pit of his stomach was back, along with the tight anger he felt most of the time while he was actually fighting in the damned war. 

_Treize is dead. You killed him. _He shook his head slightly. Then why did the man still haunt his dreams? And with the new terrorist activity developing... 

He looked up at Sally quickly. "Something happened last night?" he asked. 

She looked up from where she stood trying to convince eggs in the pan on the stove to fry, blinking. "What?" Her eyes widened, becoming almost impossibly large. "No Wufei, nothing hap-" 

Wufei shook his head slightly, trying again. "Not that. You were up late. I take it there were more developments..."

Sally nodded slightly. "Um..." She raked a hand though the front of her hair. "Just needed to gather a few more notes, but I'm fairly sure we're getting really close to them now..." She sighed. "New intel kept on coming in..."

Wufei nodded once sharply. "Then I take it that we're going to take the cruiser out today?"

Sally grinned. She knew that, for the most part Wufei enjoyed working solo with her onboard on the cruisers instead of being forced to endure the office environment. Of course, if yesterday had been any testament of that... She nodded. "We'll see where Une wants us today, but probably." She turned back to her eggs, grabbing a spatula and flipping them onto a plate.

~~~

Because he enjoyed the opportunity to be alone, Wufei usually walked to the Headquarter's base by himself in the early mornings, instead of catching a ride there with Sally. That meant that he usually left for work about an hour before Sally, and today wasn't any different. He finished his breakfast quickly and packed up his small bag, only pausing at the door to announce his departure. 

"I am leaving now." 

"Yes Dear!" an overly cheerful voice belonging to Sally called back from a different room. 

Wufei frowned. He hated it when she called him that, about as much as he assumed that she hated it when he called her "woman." Grumbling to himself and shaking his head he pulled the door to the apartment closed behind him. Once again he considered finding his own place to live... perhaps someday soon he would, he decided abruptly. But for now, he would merely discuss it with her, once again, at a later time. 

He could tell that something was wrong less than a block away from the apartment complex. Having spent several years being trained in martial arts, he felt more than could see or hear the forms trailing along behind him. He ignored them for a short bit, hoping to make it to the Headquarter's before a confrontation, but when they persisted he finally felt the need to turn and face the "empty" street behind him. 

"Show yourselves!" He snapped. His strong proud voice rang back to him. 

Nothing. Hmm. He narrowed his eyes. 

Then he "saw" it. There. 

Someone shifted in the shadows beyond his sight, but when no one emerged into his line of sight. Wufei frowned yet again. "HA!" He said, moving into position. "Come out where I can see you and fight, you cowards!!" he challenged.

Still nothing, and Wufei let his arms slowly fall to his sides. He stood there silently for such a long while that he briefly he wondered if he was perhaps loosing it, when his suspicions were confirmed. 

A gentle whisper of something cutting through air came towards him, and before he could move a small sharp pain welled up from his shoulder. 

Eyes wide, he stared at his shoulder. There was a newly embedded needle there, syringe empty. Cursing he yanked it out quickly, tossing it to the ground. Of all the weak.... 

He was too late. _'This isn't good,' _he thought desperately as his vision began to blur. 

He felt weak at the knees almost instantly as the street that was once empty erupted into a flurry of motion and men. Strong arms reached for him and he struggled briefly, limbs unable to fight in their rapidly numbing state. He swore and snarled at them as he was half dragged, half carried down the street towards what he assumed was their vehicle... told them they were weak and cowardly and kept on doing so until complete darkness finally over took him. 

~~~

TBC...

That's it for now folks!! *points* I gotta finish my fic "Twilight" first! Really... *sweatdrops*  
Marie's advice for the day: Watch a random couple of episodes of "Lain". Show random said episodes of "Lain" to your non-anime loving roommates and/or parents. Get back to me with the results. ^_^   
(Treks off to procrastinate writing more fanfiction now that the audience is distracted. :D)  
*lol* Just kidding.   



End file.
